Paper Lanterns
by StoryQuipster
Summary: [Collection of Jinko Oneshots] Passing Notes: She's really sweet, he decides.
1. Shut Up and Do It

**Shut Up and Do It**

* * *

So, he's pretty sure that someone's stalking them again.

It starts like this.

He's in the middle of obsessing over his disastrous date with Jin (yet again) when Ping, one of the shop's regulars, randomly mentions that somebody has been going around the markets and taverns asking "who the hell this Lee person is."

Then, he stops thinking about Jin for what is probably the first time in a million years and starts freaking out over the very real possibility that someone is trying to expose him and his uncle as firebenders again. That's really the only logical explanation why someone's asking around for him. Ping's saying something about how it could've been another Lee and that there are at least a _million_ Lees in Ba Sing Se. But he can't shake off the feeling that this is something that has to do with him because how many of those one million Lees in Ba Sing Se are secretly firebenders?

Exactly. Just him.

So he does what any rational person would do. He cashes in on all of the breaks he has never bothered to use and spends the next two hours wandering around Ba Sing Se, just trying to find out who exactly this person is. Maybe he's overreacting or being overly paranoid but he and his uncle's current living situation is precarious. One wrong move and they could find themselves facing the Dai Li. He has to nip this in the bud before it even starts.

It only takes him around thirty minutes to get a good description of who exactly this guy is.

(He guesses that spending nearly a quarter of his life tracking the Avatar down did have some of its benefits.)

He manages to get a name (Ryu) and even a workable physical description. This Ryu person seems like a typical Earth Kingdom citizen—dark-haired and green eyed. But what sets him apart from everyone else is his wild hair and the small bump at the crook of his nose (people say he got it from an earth bending accident). Apparently, he's a pretty nice guy, well-liked and fairly popular around the area. The people manning the stalls have all told him that Ryu's very friendly and easygoing, an absolute sweetheart. Zuko probably would've let the whole thing go if he didn't hear that the guy also apparently served in the army, under General How and that his father was killed in the Siege of Ba Sing Se.

Great. So from the looks of things, this person has a huge grudge against the Fire Nation. Or firbenders in general.

Sounds like the whole thing is shaping up to be another Jet situation.

When he asked why the guy seems so bent on knowing who he is and where he works, everyone else replies that Ryu never really mentioned anything. The only thing they could recall him talking about was that he just wanted to "have a talk."

Zuko's chest tightens. Having a talk sounds really vague and it can range from this Ryu guy wanting to figure out his uncle's secret tea recipe to him yelling out death threats.

So yeah, best to be on guard.

He spends the rest of the morning trying to convince his uncle that they should move and leave this place _forever_. But when his uncle says no, he settles for anxiously watching the door, just waiting for someone to burst in and start flinging accusations at them.

At least he's no longer thinking about Jin. The date they had makes him feel strangely happy and embarrassed at the same time—the whole thing was unbearably awkward but he's not going to lie and say that he didn't enjoy it. Thinking about the way her lips curved into a smile when he lit all of those lamps makes him feel all warm on the inside.

He's coming dangerously close to thinking about their disastrous date (yet again) when someone suddenly barrels in from the front door.

Zuko blinks at him.

Tall, wild hair, bump on his nose.

Shit.

"Hey! You Lee?" he roughly barks as he stomps towards the counter. The shop's practically deserted now so if this Ryu guy ever starts something, then at least he can fight back without worrying about hurting other people.

"Yeah. So what?" he snaps. From beside him, Pao and his uncle have stiffened, eyes wide and afraid. His uncle puts a hand on his shoulder and gives him small, pleading look that's just begging him not to do anything stupid.

The guy places both of his palms flat against the countertop, brows pulled together in a threatening manner. He still has his armor and helmet, making him seem bigger and more intimidating then he really is. Still, there's just something in the expression of his eyes and the way his lips are twitching that's so _familiar_ and makes Zuko feel, weirdly enough, at ease.

In fact, there's just something about him overall that's familiar.

Before he can figure it out, the man suddenly grabs him by the collar and growls, "So you're the little punk that took my baby sister out on a date, huh?"

"W-What? Baby sister? Date?" Zuko incredulously babbles.

"You little bastard! So now you're just going to pretend like you don't even know her!?" Ryu roars. From beside him, his uncle anxiously starts tugging at his sleeve, almost as if he's trying to warn Zuko of something.

It takes him half a second to figure it out.

"Wait! Are you talking about Jin?" he says.

"Who else would I be talking about? Unless you're secretly dating someone else?" Ryu snarls.

Zuko blinks back at him as he tries to process everything. Why is Jin's brother after him? Why does he want to report them to the Dai Li? Awkward as he might have been in covering up his real identity, he's pretty sure that he at least managed to keep it a secret—fuck. _The fountain._ He completely forgot about that.

Agni, he's so _stupid_. Whatever possessed him to use his firebending? All he wanted to do was to make her happy. But obviously using his firebending in the middle of the city was not the smartest way to go about it. And of course she would come to the conclusion that he's a firebender. Whatever made him think that she would be stupid enough to accept his silent-mysterious-look as an answer as to how he lit all those lamps?

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about," he quickly says. He can't think of any plausible escape scenario right now except for "deny everything he's going to say."

"Stop acting like you didn't do anything wrong!" he roars.

"That's because I didn't!" Zuko shoots back, fists balled. If he's going to get violent, then Zuko's not going to take any of it lying down.

"What the hell? Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners!?" he snaps. "What part of suddenly leaving a girl in the middle of a date is perfectly okay to you?"

"I'm telling you, my uncle and I are just normal refugees—wait. What?"

"You abruptly left my sister in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and now she's upset and embarrassed and sad. And anyone who makes her sad makes me really, really _angry_. You hear?" He lets Zuko go, crosses his arms and narrows his eyes.

"Wait so you're not about to turn us—you mean this isn't about—you don't really think we're—''

"You broke my baby sister's heart. And unless you want me to break _every bone in your body_ in recompense, you're going to do exactly as I say," he says, voice suddenly very quiet.

"Are you threatening me?" Zuko retorts, a bit of his temper flaring up.

"I'm the best soldier in the entire regiment, I've won every single street brawl against every single lowlife in the Lower Ring and I may or may not have been arrested for putting someone in a coma," he says as he leans back. "You really want to go against someone like me?"

Zuko blankly stares at him, largely unaffected by his list of threats. He's taken on worse people than this clown.

"Yeah, those all sound really scary—''

"Thought so," he says, oblivious to the indifferent expression on Zuko's face. "So unless you want to eat through a straw for the rest of your life you're gonna one: go ask my sister out on a second date, two: show her a good time and treat her nicely and not mention that she's got an appetite bigger than a Canyon Crawler and three: give her a juggling performance she will never forget."

Zuko blinks at him. "Juggling?"

"You're a circus clown or something right?"

"Circus clown?" his uncle pipes up. He shoots Zuko a vaguely amused look.

"Juggler actually," Zuko corrects.

"Whatever. Look, just shut up and do it," Ryu exasperatedly says.

"But—"

He suddenly grabs Zuko by the collar again, lifting him up a few feet above the ground. "Listen man, she really likes you, okay? And you were a total jerk to her. I know you may not be interested in her but the least you could do is take her out on a second date—a _proper_ one this time. That's all I'm asking. You don't have to take her on a third date. Just a second, _great_ one. Just one that will make her happy. She works hard and she's been through a lot. She deserves this."

Zuko suddenly remembers that they've lost their father in the Siege—the Siege which his whole family started. His throat tightens. Jin seemed so happy go lucky and positive; she seemed like one of those persons that always had it easy in life. She never even mentioned, never gave _any_ indication, about it. But then again, it's not like he bothered to ask her anything about her life. Suddenly, he feels bad for not trying.

"I...I actually wouldn't mind going out on a second date with her," he honestly tells her brother.

Ryu lets him go, his face breaking out into a wide, mischievous smile. His face eases into a ridiculously easygoing expression, almost as if he's completely forgotten that just seconds ago, he was threatening to put Zuko in a coma. He puts an arm around Zuko's shoulder like they've known each other for the whole of their lives and gives him a small noogie as he cheerfully says, "Really? You know what, Lee? You're actually not all that bad."

"Thanks," Zuko mumbles as he rubs at the spot where there's sure to be a bruise. Iroh and Ryu have happily moved to the corner to talk about tea, with his uncle cheerily saying, "You have to forgive my nephew. It's been quite awhile since he's interacted with the ladies..."

Agni, he just can't catch a break.

* * *

"Lee?" Jin says, eyes wide with confusion. He avoids her gaze and anxiously toes a piece of rock to the side. She's wearing a neat but simple dress and her hair is twisted into a high bun. She's got an armful of scrolls and books in her hand and she looks exhausted. Her brother told her that school usually ends at around five for her and then she heads straight to work at a noodle shop.

She raises a brow. "What are you doing here?"

Great. She probably thinks he's some creepy stalker.

"I wanted to get some noodles," he lamely replies.

"But you're standing outside of the shop," she points out.

"I know...it's just that um..." He awkwardly scratches the back of his head.

"Do you wanna maybe go out again sometime?" he blurts out. Then, he inwardly slaps himself. Why is he so bad at this?

"What?" Jin says, looking even more confused.

"But if you don't want to, then that's okay too," he quickly says.

"No! I want to!" Jin replies, just as quickly. Then, realizing how desperate she sounds, she hurriedly schools her features and clears her throat. "I'm just...taken aback. I was under the impression that you didn't want to see me again. You know. Considering how you suddenly ran away and stuff."

He's not sure but he thinks he heard a note of resentment in her voice.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," he awkwardly mumbles. Agni, why is he still talking? Why isn't he shutting up? "I actually had a good time that night. It's just that...I'm not used to stuff like that and I sort of...panicked."

"It's okay," she disarmingly says, looking more happy than confused now. "Don't worry! This time, I promise not to kiss you."

Actually, he doesn't mind if she'll kiss him. Not that he'll tell her that because you know, he's still a firebender and it's probably best if he just sticks to a second date.

"Er...right," he mumbles. She suddenly grabs his arm and starts dragging him towards the restaurant, whatever apprehensions she had quickly dissipating. He blinks at her, slightly baffled at how she just flows through life like nothing was a big deal.

"Wanna go right now? My shift doesn't start until six and I'm wearing one of my best dresses," she enthusiastically says. "And we can get extra soup on the house. My boss is really nice."

"Sure," he says as he follows her through the door of the restaurant.

"So how do you know where I work?" she conversationally says. Then, she abruptly stops. "Wait."

A worried look crosses her face. "My brother didn't put you up to this, did he?"

"What? No. Of course not! I mean...er...what? You have a brother?"

"Nice try, Lee," Jin says as she places her hands on her reddening cheeks. "This is so embarrassing. And after I told him it was no big deal! Did he tell you about the coma story? Please tell me that he didn't."

"Um..." he says as the two of them take a seat.

"Ughhh...he did, didn't he?" she groans as she pinches the bridge of her forehead.

Just one date and that's it. After this dinner, he's done.

But then, she gives this flustered little squeak and he thinks that it's just so... _cute_...because she's so easygoing and confident that it's kind of nice to see her in a situation where she's as flustered and as awkward as him.

And then he decides that another date probably won't be so bad.

He did promise her brother to give her a juggling performance she will never forget and he still hasn't even started practicing.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : So, it's been a while since I wrote Jinko but this request came to me in tumbles. I know all my previous fics had Jin with a little brother. But for some reason, the idea of an overprotective big bro came to me and I loved that idea just as much. I didn't expand too much on Zuko and Jin's interaction because I've done the awkward-meetup-after-the disastrous-date bit at least two times already and it's hard coming up with different scenarios of how it could go. And yes, this features Jin as a student again. It's seriously a consistent headcanon of mine. Like, I honestly think that she seems like the kind of person who would go to school. She is one of the more normal teenagers who's had a presumably normal, non-badass upbringing. So it makes sense for her to do regular teenager stuff like go to school. And given her plucky, positive nature, it wouldn't surprise me that despite being poor and living in the lower ring, she would still be determined to go to finish her studies and do something better with her life.

Please leave me a review or tell me what you think if you have the time :)


	2. Passing Notes

**Passing Notes**

* * *

His alarm clock doesn't go off one morning and he ends up having to sit at the back of his Economics class.

Which he absolutely _hates_.

He takes all of his classes seriously which is why he always makes sure to get a spot in the front—hardly anyone sits there and teachers tend to remember faces that they can clearly see. And he wants to be sure that _all_ of his teachers remember him. He's not exactly sure but he's read somewhere that the most important thing in college is just to make sure that all your professors are aware of your existence.

And yes.

Before you ask, he's gone and googled college survival tips.

It might sound kind of lame but the thing is, he's never really gone to a real school before. His father's a rich businessman and they own a huge family company with worldwide branches. So when he said that he didn't want to have to wake up early and deal with the stress of regular, structured schooling, his parents wasted no time in enrolling him in homeschool. His teacher was Mr. Piandao—he was real nice and school usually ended the moment he was satisfied with Zuko's work.

So yeah, he's a little nervous about college because this is essentially his first time dealing with, you know, _other people._

But he thinks that so far, he's doing okay.

Okay, fine.

So he hasn't really made any friends yet (except for his P.E classmate Sokka and his Chem lab partner Aang) and his weekends usually consist of him working shifts in his uncle's teashop and then studying and finishing up all of his papers ahead of time. And fine, he will admit that maybe he's taking school work just a little _too_ seriously. But he really just wants to do well and keep up with his schoolmates. It's silly but he's afraid that his inexperience with regular school will make him fall behind everyone else.

And besides, he actually _likes_ being obsessed with school. It helps keep his mind off other things. He said a few stupid things during an important meeting and his father got really upset and kicked him out of their house. His uncle was nice enough to take him in so now, he's currently living in Ba Sing Se and working part-time in the teashop. He tries not to think about it too much but it's really hard not to when he's living in a foreign country, feeling incredibly homesick. His sister also keeps posting pictures of family events on Facebook and statuses about all of her achievements as an intern in the family company. She says that she's doing it to keep him updated but he knows she just wants to make him miserable about having to live with "crazy Uncle Iroh."

Yes, everyone in their family thinks that his uncle is crazy. Which is kind of unfair because his uncle's been through a lot. A few years back, his cousin died and his uncle started getting all depressed. It culminated with him going on a "spiritual" journey and deciding to quit being the company vice-president to open a teashop.

Anyway.

When he gets to class, his hair is damp and his clothes are absolutely soaked through. It started raining on his way here and he didn't have an umbrella so not only is he late, but he's also really cold and soggy. Which is not doing much to improve his already surly mood. He finds a seat at the second to the last row and immediately starts squeezing himself past people, accidentally stepping on toes and muttering under his breath.

Then, when he finally manages to sit down, he sticks his hand into his bag to pull his notebook out only to find that its soaking wet.

Shit.

Of course it would be.

And he guesses that all his books are probably drenched as well.

He scowls at his armrest, thoroughly annoyed with the world.

Apparently, this day could not get any worse.

He's about to take his phone out so that he can discreetly record the teacher's lecture when someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns to the side and finds this cute girl with wide green eyes brightly staring at him. Her hair is up in a ponytail and she's wearing a Ba Sing Se University t-shirt and denim skirt. He's never seen her around before but he supposes that it's because she sits at the back and it's hard to notice people who sit there when you're in front.

"Hey," she cheerily says.

He stares at her, a little surprised to be addressed.

"Hey," he says after several moments of silence.

"I just noticed that your notebook is wet and um..." She tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear and grins at him. "I was just wondering if you'd like a piece of paper or something to write your notes down."

The corners of his mouth involuntarily twitch into a smile.

That's really nice of her.

"Sure," he says. Her expression relaxes and she beams at him as she hands him a piece from her pad paper.

They don't talk for the rest of the class except for when he runs out of space in his paper and he goes and asks for another one. They're talking about monetary policy which is slightly confusing, especially with the ridiculously boring graphs, so he makes sure to pay close attention. His teacher is especially fond of giving check-up quizzes after class and he doesn't want to come up unprepared.

When class ends, he immediately rushes outside, only giving her a quick thanks.

And look, he wasn't trying to be rude or anything. He honestly would've thanked her properly for the paper and said goodbye. But the building of his next class is far away and it starts in fifteen minutes (he made sure that he never had any long in-between breaks so that he could finish the day faster). So he had to rush if he was ever going to make it to his next class in time.

He bolts out of class, only briefly registering the look of slight hurt at what she probably thought was terse and uninterested behavior from him.

He suddenly feels guilty because she's done something really nice for him and he just up and left her without even saying goodbye.

* * *

He gets sick the next day which is absolutely _unfair_.

He's going to miss his Finance test and his teacher absolutely refuses to give exemptions and make-up quizzes in the case of absences. It's only ten points, but quizzes account for around thirty percent of his overall grade so it has the potential to bring down his entire average. He's also going to miss two classes (Math and Literature) which is something that makes him extremely worried. He doesn't know anyone there so he's going to have a bit of trouble asking someone to lend him their notes.

To be honest, he would've just gone to school but his uncle insisted he stay home even though he's perfectly capable of handling a little fever and a runny nose. But apparently his uncle thinks that he needs the time off to recharge—something about him working too hard and running himself to the ground.

He spends the rest of the day scrolling through the Facebook groups of all the subjects he's missed, trying to work up the courage to ask someone for their notes. But whenever he's about to type a message to someone, he suddenly feels a stab of hesitancy and decides not to push through with it. No matter how familiar a person may be—even if he or she is his own fucking seatmate—he realizes that he hasn't once held more than a five-second conversation with him or her.

Maybe Sokka is right.

He needs to get out more.

The next day, he's surly and irritated as goes to his Economics class. He's missed a lot in the day that he's been absent and without any notes, he's surely going to do horribly in the tests. He enters the room and plops down on his seat, annoyed with himself for being nervous over something as simple as asking for notes.

Someone taps him on the shoulder, interrupting his line of thought.

He turns to the side and finds the girl who gave him some paper the other day.

"Hey," she brightly says. She gestures at the chair next to him. "Is anyone sitting here?"

"No," he says.

"Great. Mind if I sit here?" she politely asks him.

"Sure," he shrugs. She grins at him before taking a seat and looking through her bag. He stares at her, slightly confused why she suddenly wants to sit next to him. He turns to look at the back, thinking that all the seats are already filled but he finds that the back rows are mostly empty. It shouldn't be surprising given how early it is. Then, he turns to look at the projector to see if it's set up—when that happens, that usually means that there's going to be a film viewing so everyone tries to crowd into the front. But there's no projector.

Maybe he's just overthinking.

Maybe she just wants to sit next to him.

The thought, weirdly enough, makes him inexplicably happy.

"Thanks. And um...here," she tells him. She suddenly pulls out a stack of papers from inside her bag and holds it out to him. He squints at the papers and is surprised to find that they're photocopies of notes.

"Huh?" he says, confused. He thinks that it's very kind of her to give him her notes. But he really doesn't need them given how he was able to copy the last Economics lecture. He frowns. Doesn't she remember giving him all those papers?

She gives him a disarming smile. "These are yesterday's notes from Math and Lit. I..."

She momentarily looks flustered, her cheeks reddening.

It's a little cute.

She clears her throat and takes a deep breath, her smile and easygoing demeanor returning. "I...um...noticed that you weren't there yesterday. So I photocopied my notes for you!"

Zuko looks at her, still confused, before hesitantly taking the papers from her hands. He flips through them, his eyes skimming through her neat handwriting and grinning when he catches some of the silly doodles she's scribbled and the (surprisingly) snarky comments at the margins.

Suddenly, he feels embarrassed for not realizing that aside from Economics, they had two other classes together.

"A-Ah thank you so much!" he sputters. Then, his cheeks color and he avoids her gaze. "I um...I'm sorry. I didn't know we had Math and Lit together."

She looks just as embarrassed as him but she gives a dismissive wave and says, "Oh no, don't worry about it! It's totally fine! You always sit in front so I completely understand why you didn't know we were classmates."

"Okay," he stupidly says. Then, he abruptly looks away from her, not really knowing what to say next.

For the first time since he's started college, he finds himself unable to fully pay attention to the lecture. He keeps flipping through her notes, memorizing the way the dots of her i's are like apostrophes, grinning like an idiot when he sees that she's made a little devil cartoon of their Math prof (he's atrociously boring and is stingy with grades). She's really sweet, he decides. She really didn't have to do this for him and yet she did. He's seen the photocopier at the library. He knows how long the lines can go. And her notes are at least twenty pages long. She probably waited for fifteen minutes, at the very least, just to have everything photcopied.

He wonders why she went through all the trouble.

When class ends, he decides that he can stand to be a little late for his Chemistry class. He hasn't bothered to thank her properly the first time so he wants to make sure that this time around, she'll know how much he appreciates the gesture.

"So, I never got to thank you for giving me some paper the other day," he tells her as she starts gathering up her things. She looks at him, clearly surprised that he hasn't gone off and left yet. "I um...had a class right after this and it's in another building so I had to rush."

"It's no problem at all!" she tells him. Then, her mouth presses into a small frown. "You have a class after this? Shouldn't you get going?"

"No, it's okay," he quickly tells her. He holds up the stack of notes. "I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to photocopy your notes for me. That was really nice of you."

"You're welcome! They're probably not as thorough as most people's notes but I hope they'll help you all the same," she tells him. The two of them start walking out of the door.

"No, they're really great," he tells her. And just because he has no idea what to say next, he mumbles, "I um...I really love that drawing you made of our prof."

She flushes. "Er...right. Sorry about the doodles as well."

"No, I like the doodles!" he blurts out, realizing that she thinks he's making fun of her. Then, registering how stupid that sounds, he quickly looks away and twiddles his thumbs. "I mean...they're kinda...cute. And you placed them on the margins so they're not very distracting."

She has really pretty eyes, he suddenly notices. They're a lighter shade of green with flecks of brown and amber—hazel, he realizes.

And then, he blushes, feeling like an idiot for even thinking about something as trivial as eye color.

"You know," she says. "I don't think I've ever properly introduced myself."

She turns to face him and holds her hand out. "My name's Jin."

"Zuko," he says as he takes her hand and shakes it. Her hands feel so soft against his.

The two of them continue walking in awkward silence. Jin asks him a few questions but he's so nervous that he keeps answering with monosyllabic replies. Surprisingly, she seems more bemused than offended, like he expected her to be and she seems to be taking his (believe him, _unintentional_ ) curt behavior in stride. Or perhaps she's just being polite and is hiding how she truly views him. She probably thinks that he's a rude turdbag, which strangely enough, makes him very concerned. Normally, he doesn't care about what other people think. But with Jin, it's different.

The bell rings and he still has to cross another building before he can get to his next class.

"That's the bell," Jin says. She gives him a worried look. "You should get going."

"Right," he says. He's inexplicably disappointed at having to leave her because he has not once replied to her questions with something interesting or impressive.

Whatever interest she had in him is probably long gone right now.

Suddenly, he feels a desperate need to prove to her that he isn't as lame as he seems.

"Jin?" he says.

"Hm?"

He thickly swallows as he holds her notes up. She gives him a questioning look.

He tries to ignore how incredibly corny his next line is.

"Um...would you...would you mind going over these with me? Over lunch?"

She looks at him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, almost as if she can't believe he's asked her that. For a moment, he regrets saying it because she's really pretty and she's probably been invited by guys with better game.

Then, her mouth spreads into a grin that makes his heart moil and she says, "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So this was request in tumblr and partially inspired by a prompt I once saw (it was something along the lines of Person A giving Person B his/her notes). As you've probably noticed, I've turned this fic into a series of oneshots, so all my drabbles and other Jinko fics will probably be placed here.

Please tell me what you think if you have the time and thank you for reading! :)


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